What is British in Europe?
British in Europe is the largest coalition group of British citizens living and working in Europe. Our member groups across the continent represent a membership of over 30.000 British people, and all are working together to stand up for the rights of UK citizens in the EU and EU citizens in the UK. France Rights is a core member of British in Europe, representing (along with the British Community Committee of France) the interests of UK nationals in France; its founders Kalba Meadows and Kathryn Dobson are members of the steering committee and as well as representing the specific interests of British citizens in France share in the overall work and decision making of the group.
We work hand in hand with the3million, the group representing over 3 million EU citizens in the UK, and over the last 2 years have been involved in joint advocacy with both EU and UK.
The group has a website, here: https://britishineurope.org/ , a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/britishineurope/ and a Facebook group, here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishineurope/.
We work hand in hand with the3million, the group representing over 3 million EU citizens in the UK, and over the last 2 years have been involved in joint advocacy with both EU and UK.
The group has a website, here: https://britishineurope.org/ , a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/britishineurope/ and a Facebook group, here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishineurope/.
How it all began
Immediately after the referendum result British citizens living across the EU27 began to come together in groups to support each other and find a way forward. During the following 6 months, those who were coordinating those early groups began to reach out and make contact with each other. This informal networking process led, in early January 2017, to the formation of a loose-knit community called the 'Brexit Communication Board' which started to talk weekly together via conference call. Although we were mostly from groups representing British nationals living in the EU, the3million were also included in these early calls, and this was the beginning of the close friendship and working relationship which has been so much a part of our campaigning for almost 3 years.
Much of our discussion was about how best to represent British citizens in the EU and defend our rights, and from the beginning we began to work towards setting up a more formal, public, group. Inevitably some people, and groups, dropped by the wayside, but those left formed British in Europe in March 2017 and our groups became BiE founder/core members. In June 2017 we formalised our set up and put together a steering committee comprising 10 members with complementary backgrounds, skills and experience and representing the main EU27 countries.
Kalba Meadows and Kathryn Dobson - two of the core/founding members of France Rights - have been involved with British in Europe from its beginning, initially through their memberships of the campaign groups Remain in France Together and ECREU. As part of the recent streamlining of British in Europe's activities, and because of the importance of France in the Brexit process and the crucial work that remains to be done in the fields of information and campaigning, in 2019 they set up France Rights to lead on grassroots work for British in Europe in France.
Much of our discussion was about how best to represent British citizens in the EU and defend our rights, and from the beginning we began to work towards setting up a more formal, public, group. Inevitably some people, and groups, dropped by the wayside, but those left formed British in Europe in March 2017 and our groups became BiE founder/core members. In June 2017 we formalised our set up and put together a steering committee comprising 10 members with complementary backgrounds, skills and experience and representing the main EU27 countries.
Kalba Meadows and Kathryn Dobson - two of the core/founding members of France Rights - have been involved with British in Europe from its beginning, initially through their memberships of the campaign groups Remain in France Together and ECREU. As part of the recent streamlining of British in Europe's activities, and because of the importance of France in the Brexit process and the crucial work that remains to be done in the fields of information and campaigning, in 2019 they set up France Rights to lead on grassroots work for British in Europe in France.
What we do and how we work
British in Europe is led by the 10 members of its steering committee, who are coordinators and leaders of the core member groups. We are all volunteers, many of us with full-time jobs or businesses too, and we're spread across a number of different EU countries. As well as meeting face-to-face a couple of times a year for strategy planning we meet together regularly on a 'virtual' basis: weekly conference calls, Skype and daily discussions on Ryver.
Each member comes with different skills - we have a remarkable spread of expertise in the group, including specialists in EU law - and contributes according to their particular interests, resources and experience. We also work closely with The 3 Million, which represents EU citizens in the UK.
So far we have (amongst other things, too numerous to list):
In 2019 we turned our focus to no deal contingency planning on citizens' rights. We are:
Each member comes with different skills - we have a remarkable spread of expertise in the group, including specialists in EU law - and contributes according to their particular interests, resources and experience. We also work closely with The 3 Million, which represents EU citizens in the UK.
So far we have (amongst other things, too numerous to list):
- given oral and written evidence to the Select Committee on Leaving the EU, to the Health Committee and to bill scrutiny committees;
- worked with peers to table amendments to the Brexit bill;
- met with officials and ministers from DeXEU and the FCO;
- met regularly - both formally and informally - with UK MPs from all parties;
- met with Michel Barnier, the Article 50 Task Force and many other EU officials, members and groups;
- met regularly with MEPs in the Brexit Steering Group and others;
- taken part in conferences and meetings across Europe;
- met with politicians in our various EU27 countries of residence; and
- organised a number of grassroots lobbying exercises, including a massive exercise to lobby peers to support the amendment on citizens' rights where many peers quoted from our emails and tweets in the House of Lords debate, and (jointly with The 3 Million) two mass lobbies of Parliament, in September 2017 and November 2018. We have commented extensively on the negotiating guidelines, the Joint Report and the draft Withdrawal Agreement, and continue to input into the legal aspects of the latter.
In 2019 we turned our focus to no deal contingency planning on citizens' rights. We are:
- meeting with national governments and officials in the EU27;
- meeting with ministers and officials from DExEU, the FCO and the Home Office;
- meeting with Embassies across the EU27;
- submitting evidence on issues around EU third country national legislation;
- monitoring the no deal contingency planning across the EU27 and inputting into that process wherever possible;
- monitoring the issues arising from the loss of reciprocal health and social security rights and inputting into the debate around that with both UK and EU;
- seeking as many press and media opportunities as we can to ensure the plight of British residents in the EU doesn't disappear from view.
British in Europe in France
The British in Europe France team is made up of 4 members of its steering committee, two of whom (Kathryn Dobson and Kalba Meadows) are also core/founder members of France Rights. The other 2 are Roger Boaden from ECREU, and Christopher Chantrey from the British Community Committee of France.
Specifically in relation to France, British in Europe:
Specifically in relation to France, British in Europe:
- took part in a round table of the Brexit committee in the Assemblée Nationale along with the3million;
- gave evidence to the Special Committee set up in the Assemblée Nationale to report on the no deal act of parliament before it was passed and successfully asked for changes in its wording; our stated concerns over administration were also represented in the rapporteur's report;
- have attended meetings with and have an ongoing working relationship with the ambassador and his team in Paris;
- have met with Sandrine Gaudin, the Europe advisor to Président Macron;
- are in regular contact with senior officials in the Ministry of the Interior team responsible for residence and other rights and for the implementation of the no deal legislation;
- regularly represent the specific interests and issues of British citizens in France at meetings, hearings and committees in London and also in Brussels;
- have analysed and produced detailed English language guides to the French no deal legislation for the use of our group members, plus various other documents and tables for advocacy purposes;
- have compiled - for both the European Commission and the Ministry of the Interior - case studies and lists of technical questions and concerns about the implementation of the no deal legislation, updated as new issues arise.